Guest Musicians & Singers

Please see below for details of our 2018 festival guests. 

Our guests for this year have now been confirmed and we are delighted to have another exciting mix of fantastic singers and musicians at our festival. Accordion whizz-kid, Gary Sutherland, will be opening the festival on Friday night with the Ceilidh Dance and will be hosting the accordion workshop on Saturday morning. We have the fantastic fiddler, Marie Fielding, joining us as a guest throughout the weekend. Marie will be adjudicating the instrumental competitions on Saturday and then will lead the Fiddle Masterclass on Sunday Morning. Renowned ‘Cauld-wind’ piper, Hamish Moore, will be with us for the weekend, taking part in concerts and sessions. We are also delighted to have Margaret Bennett with us this year as a weekend guest and there will also be a chance to hear Margaret at our Saturday morning ‘talk’ where she will be sharing ‘Voices from the Factory Floors o Fife’. And there’s more! We are very much looking forward to welcoming Kevin and Ellen Mitchell to our festival, both very fine singers. We are delighted to have Allan Taylor, winner of the Bothy Ballad competition two years ago who was unable to join us as a guest last year. Dave Husband will be joining us for the Saturday to adjudicate the Instrumental competition and will also perform in the Saturday evening concert. Last but in no way least, we are delighted to be joined by Forgaitherin at our Sunday Farewell Concert. This years ceilidh will again be dedicated to the memory of local singer Ron Bissett, a great singer and supporter of traditional music and a stalwart of our festival.

Throughout the weekend, our guests will be performing at the concerts as well as taking workshops and adjudicating competitions so there will be plenty of chances to see them over the three days.

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Biographies

Gary Sutherland

Gary is a fine accordionist based in Fife. He is much in demand either as a solo performer or with his band and is a two-time all Scotland accordion champion. The Gary Sutherland Ceilidh Band was formed about 15 years ago and has performed all over Scotland as well as trips to the Netherlands, Uganda and Kuwait. They can be heard regularly on Radio Scotland and have released two successful CDs. Gary and his band will be in charge of the Friday ceilidh dance. On Saturday morning, Gary will lead the accordion workshop. We are delighted to have him and his band with us and it will be a great opportunity to hear Gary play as well as learn from his expertise; a must for any accordion player!

Marie Fielding

Based in Falkirk, Marie Fielding is a free-lance fiddler and composer as well as lecturer at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and teaches at The Tolbooth, Stirling. She has won several awards for her compositions as well as publishing two highly successful books of tunes. Marie is also an examiner for the Traditional Graded Music Exams and travels far and wide as an adjudicator. Self-taught, Marie has played, recorded and toured with most of the top Scottish dance bands over the years from the age of 17. A regular on BBC Alba, BBC Take The Floor, Travelling Folk and Radio Nan Gaidheal, Marie’s compositions have been broadcast and recorded by many musicians including Capercaillie, Tom Orr, Jim Johnston and most Scottish dance bands. Marie has produced four albums on her record label, Rumford Records, and two were nominees for best album including An Tra at the 2013 Trad Awards. Strong influences in Marie’s music come from Shetland, Tobermory, Dingle, Gaelic song, pipe music, art and her place of birth, Edinburgh.

Hamish Moore

Hamish Moore, the renowned ‘Cauld Wind’ Piper, will be joining us for the weekend as a guest, taking part in concerts and sessions. Hamish is one of the pioneers of the re-introduction of the Scottish Small Pipes and has been a pipe maker for over 30 years.

Hamish was first taught to play pipes by his father, followed by a more formal training from Jack Crichton at George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh. In 1982, Hamish discovered an early nineteenth century set of Scottish Small Pipes which were restored by Colin Ross. In 1986, he retired from The Ministry of Agriculture in order to pursue his passion in piping; to make and to play Scottish Bagpipes.

Hamish toured extensively from 1985 – 1996 playing in Europe, The USA, New Zealand and Canada. During this time he played at many of the biggest Festivals in the world and recorded three solo albums and two with Dick Lee. He also taught extensively most notably at The Edinburgh Folk Festival, his own teaching school in Perthshire, The Gaelic College in Cape Breton, Jay Ungar’s Ashokan School, Elkins College in West Virginia plus many of his own schools  in California, North Carolina and Vermont. Most recently he founded and established the world famous “Ceolas” summer school in South Uist.

Since he started making pipes in 1986 the firm of Hamish Moore, now Hamish and Fin Moore, has made over a thousand sets of pipes. As well as making small pipes played by some of the best pipers in the world, Hamish has developed an original design for his border chanter making its sound and flavour unique. Hamish’s youngest son, Fin, is now in charge of pipe making and Hamish divides his time between some pipe making, research and development work, writing, teaching and some performances.

Margaret Bennett

Margaret is a very fine singer, writer and folklorist with a wealth of knowledge and we are delighted to have her as a weekend guest. There will be a chance to hear Margaret at our Saturday morning talk where she will be sharing ‘Voices from the Factory Floors o Fife’.

Kevin Mitchell

Kevin is a very fine traditional singer, originally from Derry City in Ireland but now living in Glasgow. Kevin has won many singing competitions at Irish festivals and has a wide repertoire of songs and ballads from his home area of Derry. Kevin is a weekend guest and will judge the singing competitions for us on Saturday.

Ellen Mitchell

Ellen is from Glasgow and is also a very fine traditional singer. Ellen has won TMSA cups at Keith and Auchtermuchty as well as being a guest at many clubs and festivals. We are delighted to have Ellen with us as a weekend guest and also as a judge for the singing competitions.

Allan Taylor

Allan Taylor is a fine traditional and bothy ballad singer. Allan is from Alford and will be singing throughout the weekend as well as adjudicating the Bothy Ballad competition on Saturday, of which he was the winner two years ago. We are delighted to have Allan as a weekend guest and very much look forward to hearing him again.

Dave Husband

Dave Husband is a renowned accordion player with his own dance band. Dave will be judging the Instrumental Competitions on Saturday afternoon along with Marie Fielding and will also be a guest in the Saturday evening Traditional Concert.

Forgaitherin

Last but by no means least, Forgaitherin will join us on the Sunday afternoon as part of our Farewell Concert with a fine selection of songs and tunes. Forgaitherin (at our festival) will be Hugh and Lesley Toner, Hamish Grant and David Toner. We look forward to welcoming them to our festival.

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